Part 28 (2/2)

German trade may be summed up as an export of manufactured goods and an import of food-stuffs and raw materials. At the close of the century the annual movement of industrial products amounted to nearly two and one-half billion dollars. About one-half the trade of the empire is carried on with Great Britain, the United States, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A large part of the foreign trade is carried on through the ports of Belgium and Holland.

_Berlin_, the capital, is one of the few cities having a population of more than one million. It is not only a great centre of trade, but it is one of the leading money-markets of Europe; it is also the chief railway centre. _Hamburg_ and _Bremen_ are important ports of German-American trade, the former being the largest seaport of continental Europe.

_Breslau_ is an important market, into which the raw materials of eastern Europe are received, and from which they are sent to the manufacturing districts. The art galleries of _Dresden_ have had the effect of making that city a centre of art manufactures which are famous the world over. _Lubeck_ is one of the free cities that was formerly in the Hanse League.

The twin cities, _Barmen-Eberfeld_, in the Ruhr coal-field, form one of the princ.i.p.al centres of cotton manufacture in the world. _Dortmund_ is a coal-market. At _Essen_ are the steel-works founded by Herr Krupp.

They are the largest and one of the most complete plants in the world.

The output includes arms, heavy and light ordnance, and about every kind of structural iron and steel used. About forty thousand men are employed. _Chemnitz_ is an important point, not only of cotton manufacture, but also of Saxony wools, underwear and shawls being its most noteworthy products. At _Stettin_, _Danzig_, and _Kiel_ are built the steams.h.i.+ps that have given to Germany its great commercial power.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

In what ways are Great Britain and Germany commercial rivals?

What are the advantages of each with respect to position?--with respect to natural resources?

From the Statesman's Year-Book make a list of the leading exports of each;--the leading imports of each. What exports have they in common?

From the Abstract of Statistics find what commodities the United States sells to each.

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

Adams's New Empire--Chapter III.

Gibbins's History of Commerce--Book III, Chapters III-V.

CHAPTER XXVI

EUROPE--THE BALTIC AND NORTH SEA STATES

These states, like Great Britain and Germany, belong to Germanic Europe, and their situation around the North and Baltic Seas makes their commercial interests much the same. From the stand-point of commerce Holland might be regarded as an integral part of Germany, inasmuch as a large part of the foreign commerce of Germany must reach the sea by crossing that state.

=Sweden and Norway.=--Sweden and Norway occupy the region best known as the Scandinavian peninsula. The western side faces the warm, moist winds of the Atlantic, but the surface is too rugged to be productive. The lands suitable for farming, on the other hand, are on the east side, where, owing to the high lat.i.tude, the winters are extremely cold.

The plateau lands are in the lat.i.tude of the great pine-forest belt that extends across the two continents. The forests of the Scandinavian peninsula are near the most densely peopled part of Europe, and they are also readily accessible. Moreover, the rugged surface offers unlimited water-power. As a result Norway and Sweden practically control the lumber-market of Europe, and their lumber products form one of the most important exports of the kingdom. Norway pine competes with California redwood in Australia. The ”naval stores,” tar and pitch, compete with those of Georgia and the Carolinas. The wood-pulp from this region is the chief supply of the paper-makers of Europe. Next to Russia, Sweden has the largest lumber-trade in Europe. The Mediterranean states are the chief buyers.

The mineral products are a considerable source of income. Building stone is s.h.i.+pped to the nearby lowland countries. The famous Swedish manganese-iron ores, essential in steel manufacture, are s.h.i.+pped to the United States and Europe. For this purpose they compete with the ores of Spain and Cuba. The mines of the Gellivare iron district are probably the only iron-mines of consequence within the frigid zone. The ore is sent to German and British smelteries.

The fisheries are the most important of Europe, and this fact has had a great influence on the history of the people. Centuries ago the people living about the _vigs_ or fjords of the west coast were compelled to depend almost wholly on the fisheries for their food-supplies. As a result they became the most famous sailors of the world. They established settlements in Iceland and Greenland; they also planted a colony in North America 500 years before the voyage of Columbus.

Herring, salmon, and cod are the princ.i.p.al catch of the fisheries, and about four-fifths of the product is cured and exported to the Catholic European states and to South America.

South of Kristiania farming is the princ.i.p.al industry. Much of the land is suitable for wheat-growing, but the productive area is so small that a considerable amount of bread-stuffs must be imported from the United States. On account of the high lat.i.tude the winters are too long and severe for any but the hardiest grains. Dairy products are commercially the most important output of the farms, and they find a ready market in the popular centres of Europe--London, Hamburg, Paris, and Berlin.

The lumber, furniture, matches, fish, ores, and dairy products sold abroad do not pay for the bread-stuffs, coal, petroleum, clothing, and machinery. In part, this is made up by the carrying trade of Norwegian vessels; the rest of the deficit is more than met by the money which the throngs of tourists spend during the summer months.

The United States buys from these countries fish and ores to the amount of about three million dollars a year; it sells them cotton, petroleum, bread-stuffs, and machinery to the amount of about twelve million dollars.

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